Some Like It Hot (1959)

When two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Billy Wilder (screenplay), I.A.L. Diamond (screenplay)

Stars:

Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

Top Rated Movies #130 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marilyn Monroe	...	Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
Tony Curtis	...	Joe / Josephine / Shell Oil Junior
Jack Lemmon	...	Jerry / Daphne
George Raft	...	Spats Colombo
Pat O'Brien	...	Detective Mulligan
Joe E. Brown	...	Osgood Fielding III
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Little Bonaparte
Joan Shawlee	...	Sweet Sue
Billy Gray	...	Sig Poliakoff
George E. Stone	...	Toothpick Charlie
Dave Barry	...	Beinstock
Mike Mazurki	...	Spats' Henchman
Harry Wilson	...	Spats' Henchman
Beverly Wills	...	Dolores
Barbara Drew	...	Nellie

Storyline

When two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the the St. Valentine's Day massacre, they want to get out of town and get away from the gangster responsible, Spats Colombo. They're desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is in an all-girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk who sings and plays the ukulele. Joe in particular sets out to woo her while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. Mayhem ensues as the two men try to keep their true identities hidden and Spats Colombo and his crew show up for a meeting with several other crime lords.

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Plot Keywords:

sex comedy | comedy of errors | disguise | all girl band | friendship | 

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Taglines:

The movie too HOT for words!

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 March 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Not Tonight, Josephine!

Filming Locations:

Coronado Beach, Coronado, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,883,848 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$83,169,282

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ashton Productions, The Mirisch Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.

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Goofs

In the funeral-parlor-speakeasy scene, when Joe and Jerry stop playing and make their plans, the bass fiddle part appears to stop on the musical soundtrack as well, but when Jerry begins to hastily pack up his instrument to leave, the bass line can clearly be heard playing again on the songs soundtrack.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mulligan: All right, Charlie; that the joint?
Toothpick Charlie: Yes, sir.
Mulligan: Who runs it?
Toothpick Charlie: I already told you.
Mulligan: Refresh my memory.
Toothpick Charlie: Spats Columbo.
Mulligan: That's very refreshing; what's the password?
Toothpick Charlie: "I've come to Grandma's funeral." Here's your admission card.
[he gives Mulligan a mourning armband]
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The Soviet Union version was cut by ca. 20 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Queer as Folk: Hope Against Hope (2005)

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Soundtracks

Sugar Blues - Runnin' Wild
(uncredited)
Written by A.H. Gibbs and Clyde McCoy
Performed by Matty Malneck & His Orchestra;
George 'Red' Callender, bass; Gene Cipriano, tenor sax for Tony Curtis; Jack Dumont, reeds; Al Hendrickson, ukulele for Marilyn Monroe; Barney Kessel, electric guitar; Shelly Manne, drums; Dave Pell, tenor sax , saxophone coach for Tony Curtis; Art Pepper, alto sax; Leroy Vinnegar, bass; John Williams, piano.

User Reviews

A gender-bending comedy ahead of its time

What Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis do in "Some Like it Hot" would be par for the course in modern movies – every other month, similar fish-out-of-water movies premiere with men posing as women ("Tootsie"), women posing as men ("The Associate"), black people posing as white people ("White Chicks"), and on and on. What makes "Some Like it Hot" different is two things: the strength of its comedy, and the presence of Marilyn Monroe, then at the height of stardom.

Lemmon and Curtis turn in admirable performances both as Joe and Jerry, and as Josephine and Daphne. Tony Curtis does Lemmon one better by creating a third identity, "Junior", in order to woo Sugar Kane (Monroe).

Tying the pair's story into the Chicago Valentine's Day Massacre, where a gang war spilled over into a parking garage, leaving a number of people lined up against the wall and shot, is a deft touch (though the serious tone of these gang sequences contrasts sharply with the bulk of the movie).

The movie does an excellent job building the far-fetched stakes of the movie ever-higher, from their finding refuge from vengeful gangs in a women's jazz band, to their showdown in the Florida hotel, to the eventual revealing of Curtis' and Lemmon's identities. The movie's surprisingly suggestive and risque content is at odds with the time frame of the movie, and even with the period of the movie's creation. The many smart double-entendres and plays on words are very well-written, and alternate between lowbrow and highbrow comedy,

The films only fault might be a couple of overlong musical numbers, performed either by the whole band or soloed by Sugar Kane. Though to be expected in a Marilyn Monroe film, these musical acts are literal "show stoppers" that bring the comedic momentum of the film to a screeching halt. However, it is easy to over look these minor defects in the movie as a whole, because by and large it is quite funny – no wonder it s considered a classic – and after all, "nobody's perfect".